WEBVTT HE'S A LOCAL ARTIST...AND HIS WORK IS BEING FEATURED AROUND THE WORLD. ONE COLLECTION JUST DEBUTED IN OUR NATIONS CAPITOL. K-E-T-V NEWSWATCH SEVEN'S ALEX HOFFMAN GIVES US AN EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK AT JUN KANEKO'S NEWEST PROJECT. ( çnatsÑ "This nose is pointing up compared to the other...out, up compared to the other one." ) JUN KANEKO ADMIRES HIS OWN CREATIONS. NEARLY TWO DOZEN CERAMIC SCULPTURES.. CALLED TANUKIS.( JUN KANEKO / ARTIST: "Tanuki means raccoon dog in Japanese." ) RIGHT NOW -- THE TANUKI SCULPTURES LINE THE KENNEDY CENTER IN WASHINGTON, D-C.( JUN KANEKO / ARTIST: Generally speaking, most of them are pretty interesting to me. ) KANEKO SAYS HE STARTED DESIGNING THIS NEW SHAPE ABOUT TWO YEARS AGO. EACH ONE BUILT BY HAND..TAKES SEVEN TO EIGHT MONTHS TO DRY. WHILE THEY'RE DRYING..KANEKO SAYS HE THINKS ABOUT HOW HE'LL PAINT EACH ONE.. AND WHAT KANEKO / ARTIST: "Good thing is they don't talk back to me, and say 'I dont like this I want to change it' (laughing) ." )( ALEX HOFFMAN / KETV: "This here is a very small version of a tanuki. The real sculpture stands over six feet tall!" )( JUN KANEKO / ARTIST: But when we're making it, these things shrink 10% so when we are making it, it was a little over 7 feet. ). IT TOOK SIX MONTHS JUST TO TACKLE THE TECHNICALITIES OF DESIGNING THEM.. TIME KANEKO SAYS WAS WELL SPENT DOING WHAT HE LOVES.( JUN KANEKO / ARTIST: "Without challenge my life would be boring (laughing) so I try to create some interesting situation." ) ALEX HOFFMAN, KETV NW7. SOME OF THE TANUKI SCULPTURES WILL SOON BE A PERMANENT FIXTURE AT THE OMAHA HENRY DOORLY ZOO AND AQUARIUM. WE EXPECT TO HEAR MORE ABOUT THAT IN THE NEXT FEW